The present invention relates to a protective device for use with a leg assembly of a piece of furniture and, more particularly, to a protective and decorative guard that can readily be installed to enclose the leg of a bed frame and protect all sharp edges. The ultimate goal is to fully protect and encapsulate all exposed metal edges of the entire frame.
In general, bed frames are well known and are comprised of a pair of side rails and various cross members that interconnect the side rails and prove a relatively rigid structure of predetermined dimensions in order to support a box spring and a mattress. The common rail structure is an L-shaped steel member and various manners of connecting the individual components together are available.
The various components, that is, the side rails and the cross members are also generally provided with legs or supports that extend downwardly from the side rail or cross member and are supported by a planar surface such as a floor. Such legs can include casters so that the components of the bed frame are elevated from the floor and to allow the bed frame and completed bed to be moved to differing locations in the room.
Accordingly, the legs normally have casters to facilitate the movement of the bed from one location to another and, in general, support the bed frame which, in turn, provides support for the box spring and mattress. As is known, the bed frame leg, along with the caster, is generally visible and can be seen by persons in the vicinity of the bed unless the bed coverings are such that they extend downwardly sufficiently to hide the leg and caster.
In the absence of the bed covers that hide the legs of the bed frame, however the legs themselves are generally constructed of one or more steel stampings and are not particularly attractive components of the overall bed. It would, therefore, be advantageous to somehow cover up the legs of the bed frame in a more permanent fashion and, at the same time, provide some attractive decoration to the leg and the bed so that it actually enhances the overall appearance of the bed rather than detract from that appearance.
In addition, the normal legs of such bed frames are located at the outer perimeter of the bed frame and are thus susceptible of being kicked or generally run into by persons walking near the bed. Since the typical leg of a bed frame is composed of steel members that may have relatively sharp protrusions, it can be quite painful for a person to encounter and bump into a portion of the bed frame leg. Again, therefore, it would be advantageous if the bed frame legs could have some protective means to prevent injury to persons that hit the assembly with their feet, ankles or shins in walking near the bed or attending to making or changing the bed.
One prior art protector for bed supports and casters is disclosed in Owen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,990 where the protector device is comprised of a generally resilient material and which has a radially disposed cut that enables the device to circumvallate the entire bed leg, including the caster, so that the caster is enclosed within the sleeve-like protector and, as such, impedes the mobility of the bed. That mobility is impeded, in part, since bed frame casters typically have an offset that requires the caster to swivel in order to move the bed and thus anything that affects the swiveling action impedes the overall mobility of the bed.
Too, in the Owen device, the protector is retained on the bed support and caster by its own resiliency, and in time, can lose its resiliency and the device would become loose and require replacing. In particular, the Owen protector is held in place longitudinally by compressing the elastic material between the floor and the bed same side rail. Therefore, aside from a loss of resilience and durability factors over time, the Owen device inherently seems to impede the movement of the caster, especially on a carpeted floor.
It would be advantageous if the protector would not only provide protection from inadvertent encounters with the lower portion of the users leg, be decorative, but at the same time be useable with the stamped metal bed frame legs and additionally be compatible with the normal casters or glide assemblies, that is, to be usable without sacrificing any of the full use of the caster itself or be specially designed to be used with a particular caster that is itself an improvement on current casters and glide assemblies.
In addition, since the typical bed frame caster itself has exposed metal edges that can be a hazard if kicked or otherwise contacted, it would be advantages to have a caster incorporated into a leg guard that would provide the mobility of a caster but additionally provide protection to a user from encountering the caster itself, as well as the leg of the bed frame.
Now, in accordance with the present invention, an improved guard or protective device is shown that is usable with furniture and particularly to a bed frame such that the device is easily interfitted to the bed frame leg itself and which provides both a decorative addition to the overall bed assembly as well as provides protection against harm due to inadvertent contact with the leg of a person.
In the construction of an embodiment of the present device, a guard is comprised of an upper component and a lower component. The upper component has a recess that is specially formed so as to interfit with the downwardly projecting leg of the bed frame so as to encase that leg within the guard. The cross member itself is in the configuration of an L-shaped angle iron having a horizontal plane and a vertical plane that depends downwardly toward the floor from the horizontal plane. In one embodiment, an elongated slot is formed in the upper surface of the guard that receives the downward vertical plane of the cross member to align the guard and to hold it in the desired position. As such, therefore, in that embodiment, the upper surface of the guard fits against the underside of the bed frame cross member so that all of the bed frame leg, as well as part of the cross member angle iron is enclosed within the guard. The lower component of the guard, in this embodiment, has an opening into which fits the normal caster or other support so that the caster can be fitted into the bed frame leg in its normal manner to hold the guard in position enclosing the leg of the bed frame.
Thus, in the aforedescribed embodiment, the guard is held in position by the interfitting of the vertical plane of the cross member into the slot formed in the guard as well as the addition of the caster that engages the guard and also interfits to the bed leg that extends down from the cross member.
Accordingly, in a method of installing that embodiment, the standard caster is simply removed from the existing leg, fitting the guard of the present invention to the bottom surface of the bed frame member to cover the leg and receive the downward vertical plane of the cross member and then replacing the caster back into its original position. When the caster is again reattached to the bed frame, the guard is dimensioned such that the same caster can be replaced it its original position and the guard is held in position by the caster itself. As such, therefore, no special tools are required, the caster is still usable and the owner can easily change the guard whenever desired, even to simply affix a different guard for decorative purposes whenever the decor of the room is changed.
Thus, in such embodiment, the guard is dimensioned so as to be fitted over a standard leg of a bed frame and no additional modifications are needed by the user for its installation and, when desired, to replace the guard in the home from time to time as the decorative effect is desired to be varied. The guard can be provided to owners of present bed frames and can be installed without the need for modifications, alterations or the like in order to benefit from the enhanced safety as well as the decorative appeal of the guard of the present invention.
In addition, with the simple approach to installation of the present guard, the user can readily carry out the entire installation in the home without need for special expertise or tools. Accordingly, the guard may be constructed of any number of differing configurations and decorative effects as selected by the homeowner and readily installed without the need for specially qualified persons.
In one alternate embodiment, the guard is a one piece construction and, again, the caster is inserted in a suitable opening in the guard such that the stem of the caster assembly passes through the guard and interfits to the leg of the bed. In this embodiment, therefore, the caster again assists in holding the guard to the bed leg along with the intermitting of the vertical plane of the cross member into the slot in the upper surface of the guard, the difference being that the guard is a one piece structural component as opposed to two components in the preferred embodiment. The installation of the one piece component of this embodiment can be the same as that described with respect to the two piece preferred embodiment. As used herein, the term stem will refer to a member that projects outwardly and is normally used to affix a caster to a leg assembly. In normal practice, there is a metal spindle that is inside a plastic bushing and it is the combination of the metal spindle and the plastic bushing that is inserted into a opening in the leg assembly to affix the caster. Once installed, the caster can be removed and replaced and generally the plastic bushing will remain in the leg assembly of the bed frame. Thus, as used, the term stem, unless otherwise explained, will refer both to the metal spindle and the combination of a metal spindle with the plastic bushing affixed thereto.
In another embodiment, the protective guard is a two piece construction as in the preferred embodiment, however, the stem of the caster assembly is blow molded or injection molded into the lower component of the guard such that the unit can be installed to a cross member of a bed frame by simply interfitting the upper component to the cross member, aligning the vertical plane of the angle iron into the slot in the upper surface of the upper component and then simply interfitting the lower component to the upper component. Since the stem of the caster assembly is already present, having been molded into the structure of the lower component, there is no need to insert a separate caster assembly but merely fit the lower component to the upper component whereby the stem automatically interfits with the leg to hold the guard in position to the cross member. In this embodiment, as well as in the prior embodiments, the leg guard may also be produced without the elongated slot in the upper surface such that the vertical plane of an angle iron need not actually be interfitted onto the bed guard. As such, this, or any other embodiment can be used with other types of bed frame members, such as rolled form steel members.
In a still further embodiment, the guard can be molded in a one piece construction where the entire unit is composed of an injected molded or blow molded plastic and the stem, again, is insert molded into the guard. In this embodiment, the protective guard is a one piece molded construction having the opening in the upper surface to receive the bed leg and the vertical plane of the cross member and the stem is interfitted to the leg without the need to use a separate caster assembly or glide.
In the preferred embodiment, the protective guard is specially adapted to receive a bed leg that is inserted into the opening in the upper surface of the leg guard and the tapering sides of the bed frame leg are supported by similarly angled internal surfaces of the leg guard. The leg guard itself comprises an upper and lower component that are snapped together to make up the overall leg guard. In this preferred embodiment, the vertical plane of the cross member angle does not fit into any slot in the upper surface of the leg guard but instead, the leg guard can be fully affixed to the leg of the bed frame with the vertical plane not touching, far less entering into the body of the leg guard. In addition, in the preferred embodiment, the leg guard is adapted to be used in connection with a specially constructed caster assembly having three spherical rollers so that the bed frame can easily be moved in any direction and have additional strength. That preferred caster assembly is shown and described in copending U.S. patent application, U.S. Ser. No. 09/519,725, entitled CASTER ASSEMBLY FOR A BED FRAME MEMBER OR FURNITURE and the content of the specification of that patent application is incorporated herein by reference.
Thus, in the preferred embodiment, the leg guard is not compatible with the standard conventional casters or glides but is used with an improved caster assembly. In addition, the installation of the leg guard of the preferred embodiment may require simple tools for installation of retrofitted leg guards to already set up bed frames as it may be necessary to remove a plastic bushing from the existing bed frame leg in order to install the preferred leg guard and that removal may require the employment of pliers for such removal, however, again the installation is simple and does not require special tools or installation expertise.
In addition, the preferred embodiment of the leg guard construction provides a caster that is incorporated into the leg guard and thus the user is protected not only from encountering the leg and being injured, but also there is a protection for enclosing the caster itself since the caster in this embodiment is an integral part off the leg guard and only spherical rollers project downwardly to touch the floor. Those spherical rollers are not in a position to be encountered by the user and thus, the present invention provides a protective guard that not only encloses the leg but also the caster assembly for complete protection to the user, that is, with the caster of the present invention, there are no exposed metal parts that can be encountered by the user.
As noted, the preferred material for construction of the protective guard of the present invention is molded plastic since a variety of shapes and surface designs can be readily produced with plastics. Alternatively, however, the protective guard may be other materials such as metal, foamed plastic, rubber, wood, expanded styrene and may be formed in various manners, including blow molding, injection molding or other process and may further be covered with an upholstery applied to the exterior surface for an additional decorative effect. The degree of rigidity is not critical with the protective guard and varying degrees of rigidity can be used since the protective guard is relying more on the outer configuration or shape of the guard and not on the particular materials of its construction to provide the protection and the decorative effect.
Thus, in an integrated construction, the present invention is both a caster that includes a protective guard for that caster and leg as well as a leg and caster guard that incorporates a caster. The one apparatus accomplishes both features by its integrated nature. Also, in the embodiment shown, the caster assembly is affixed to a leg of the bed frame by means of the upstanding stem of the caster being inserted into a corresponding opening in the leg assembly, however, there are obviously other methods of affixing the present protective guard to a leg assembly, including screws or even causing the affixing by means of the weight of the bed frame itself, it only being of importance that the there is an integrated approach such that the caster and the protective shield is an integrated unit that can be affixed to the leg assembly of a bed frame and provide a protective plastic covering to the caster as well as the leg assembly.
As used herein, the terms xe2x80x9ccaster assemblyxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccasterxe2x80x9d are intended to not only apply to the use of a caster having a roller but, as will be seen, are equally applicable to the use of a glide or non-rotating support for the bed frame in contact with the floor.
Other features of the guard for a leg of a bed frame will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.